“Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed'” (Matthew 9:20-21).

 

When a man turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly, knowing that the angel of death was hovering over him, God sent Isaiah to him with this message, “I have heard your prayers and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life” (Isaiah 38:5). Thus, King Hezekiah did not die because of his sickness.

Why God chooses to heal some and allow others to suffer is something we will never fully understand. For example, Amy Carmichael, a godly woman who dedicated her life to touching the hurting of India, was injured in a fall and spent most of the last two decades of her life bedfast. Says one of her biographers, “…she suffered [additionally] from recurring bouts of anxiety and tension,”; not exactly the picture of a living triumphant saint but a flawed human being much like all the rest of us.

So, here is the paradox: At times God chooses to show His power, healing some completely, taking away their infirmity, giving relief from pain. At other times, He gives them His grace, He touches them with His gracious, compassionate hand so they learn to cope with their problems. But they still walk with a limp, they still face pain, and they still battle with depression.

Why? The only answer is that God is sovereign. Scores of people–from Philip Yancey, in his book, Where Is God When It Hurts, to C. S. Lewis, who wrote The Problem of Pain—look for answers. None really satisfy, yet the reality is that God does meet us at the point of our need, whether it is by removing the thorn in your flesh or giving you grace to cope with it. Are there some steps to healing that you can follow? There are, abbreviated as they may be.

 

1. Realize your pain is not punishment but the result of living in a broken world. Accepting this fact is a major hurdle that you must overcome. Study the story of the man born blind in John 9 and notice that Jesus clearly taught neither he nor his parents had sinned. It was allowed, so Jesus taught, so that God could be glorified in his illness—an insight that will help you focus on God rather than your pain.
2. Don’t feed your suffering and pain by holding on to bitterness and anger. Years ago, I began to see a pattern in the lives of a number of people I knew personally who were afflicted with diseases from cancer to arthritis. All of them lived with hatred for somebody. They had been mistreated, passed over for promotion, spurned by a mate, not given the credit they deserved. Did the hatred and anger cause their pain? Perhaps, but at least it contributed to it.
3. Follow the biblical pattern of James 5 by asking the elders of your church to pray for you. Prayer and healing should be two powerful means of restoration which churches avail themselves of. “The prayer of faith shall save the sick,” says James.
4. Believe that God will honor the promises of His Word. Now, why is this important? God is bound by His honor to do what He has promised. He never promised to answer because of your goodness but because of His grace and favor.
5. Pray in faith, according to the will of God. “According to your faith be it unto you,” Jesus told blind Bartimaeus. Even Jesus prayed according to the will of the Father, the highest form of faith.
6. When you cannot see the Father’s hand, trust His heart. Someday you will understand what appears to be a puzzle today. Thank God, the Shepherd walks with us through the valley and up the other side.

 

Resource reading: Matthew 9:18-38.